be cruel to me, 'cause i'm a fool for you
by necking
Summary: "Now is a perfect time to make out," Clarke whispered, moving closer to Lexa's mouth. Lexa's heart skipped a beat, not prepared for Clarke to be so forward. Sure, she had wanted this for a long time, but she always figured it was an unrequited love. She'd been so certain that Clarke was straight until this moment.
1. sit next to me before i go

"Lexa? You can leave, if you want," Mr. Kane said. Considering she was the only junior in her advanced functions math class, it shouldn't have been a surprise that she was the only one who showed up to class on the day of senior prom. Regardless, Lexa found herself unprepared for this situation.

"Oh. Do we have any homework?"

He smiled. She was always on top of her school work.

"No," he said, "I'm sure the rest of the class wouldn't be too pleased with me if I had assigned any."

Lexa nodded, and picked up her books to leave. She had the feeling that Kane really wanted some free time.

...

Being an overachiever, Lexa always finished her assignments as soon as she received them. This was the first time her work ethic had bitten her in the ass, as she was now left with nothing to do. So, she walked around the halls, looking for something to do for the next hour.

After her third round of the second floor, Lexa decided to put her books away. She sighed when she closed her locker, and ran through her possible time-killing options:

Crash Anya's English class and watch presentations. Watch _The Office._ Go to the plaza.

None of the options sounded particularly appealing, but Anya was her best bet. She unlocked her phone to text Anya, and found Anya had beat her to it.

Anya _8:47: can u Believe I showed up to first period today when I already presented? drag me_

Anya _8:53: fuckkkk that asshole Murphy is presenting today_

 _Anya 8:53: can I borrow ur car? I need to Skip_

Anya _8:57: Lexa?_

Anya _8:59: ?_

Anya _9:05: ok I'm taking ur car sry_

She frowned and kept a mental note to kick Anya's ass later. Her car being stolen by her best friend ruled out all three of her options, considering that Anya was the main basis of the first, her laptop was in her car, and the plaza was much too far to walk to.

Her mind struggled to think of more options. Lincoln was in gym, so she definitely could not sit in on his class, and Clarke had photography… _No._ She thought, _if I join her class, surely she will know._

But there were no other options, and Lexa found more reasons for why it would be a good idea to crash Clarke's class. _Indra, the teacher, likes her. Echo is in that class._ She nodded to herself. She and Echo weren't technically friends, but they got along well and hung out on a few occasions. _Yes, I will go in under the pretence that I am there for Echo._ She got up and walked toward the photography studio.

...

"Lexa, how are you doing for the fashion show designs?" Indra asked, as soon as she walked in.

"They are complete. I hope to be able to present them at today's meeting," Lexa said.

Indra nodded, pleased. Then she looked at Lexa with a disapproving look. "Don't you have class right now?"

"Yes… But because today is prom, no one showed up to advanced functions," she said, sheepishly.

"Ah, I see. You are more than welcome to stay here, then. Just as long as you don't distract the other students too much."

"Thank you. Where are the students?" Lexa asked, noticing the classroom was empty.

"They're all in the darkroom. Culminating," she added, when she noticed Lexa's confused look.

"I see. Thanks again, Indra."

Indra waved in response as Lexa made her way to the darkroom.

The room was dark and crowded, with a body brushing past her at every step.

She looked around the blackness, hoping to find Clarke, Echo, anyone she recognized really, when someone bumped into her.

"My apologies," Lexa said. She _had_ been standing in the middle of a crowded room.

"It's oka- Lexa?" The person asked.

"Oh, Echo. I was looking for you."

"Yeah? What for?" Echo said, handing Lexa her dry photos.

"Kane kicked me out from math, and Anya stole my car."

"Ah. Nothing to do, then?"

"Not even math homework," Lexa sighed.

"Sorry about that," Echo apologized, taking her photos back when she had finished hanging the wet ones. "I'd hang out with you, but Bellamy isn't here to finish up his side of the project."

"Oh. That's unfortunate," Lexa blinked, now struggling to think of another reason to stay in Clarke's class.

"Yeah. I gotta go cut these up. See you," Echo said, brushing past Lexa into the third studio.

Then, someone was hugging Lexa from the back. Judging by the feel of boobs, Lexa could tell it was a girl. She blushed when she realized the most likely suspect was Clarke.

"Who is this?" Lexa shakily asked, trying to prolong the contact with Clarke.

"Guess," the person said, confirming Lexa's suspicions.

Lexa closed her eyes and counted to three to prepare her voice. "Hello, Clarke." She mentally high-fived herself when her voice came out clear.

"Correct," Clarke laughed, relinquishing her hold on Lexa so she could face her. "What are you doing here?"

"Kane kicked me out of math."

"Damn, Kane's always telling me to stay in class. Why'd he kick you out? Did you do something badass?" Clarke asked.

"Well… No. No one showed up to class, is all."

"No one showed up to class? Wh- oh! You're in twelfth math," she realized. "And here I thought, you finally became a badass, when it was quite the opposite. Prom, right?"

Lexa ignored the insult, still touched that Clarke remembered her schedule. "Yes, prom. I was the only one presen-"

"Because you're the only junior in that class," Clarke finished.

Lexa opened her mouth to respond, when Octavia appeared from behind Clarke. "Hey, Clarke, we gotta go to darkroom #2 for your action shots," she said. "Indra's orders."

"Right," Clarke said, moving to darkroom #2.

"Oh, Lexa, you can come too," Octavia added, when she noticed she had interrupted Clarke and Lexa's conversation.

Lexa quickly agreed and followed the two to darkroom #2.

...

This room was much smaller than the first, and Lexa found herself in constant contact with Octavia and Clarke. She was much too flustered to remember to be discreet about her feelings for Clarke, which meant she stayed in the cramped room despite the small amount of space.

The two worked in silence, not paying much attention to Lexa.

Eventually, Octavia moved away from the sink. "Fuck, Clarke, I left the rest of the photos in my locker."

"Okay, just go grab them. I'll finish up here," Clarke said.

Clarke hung the last photo as Octavia left the room. "Finally," she sighed, turning to look at Lexa.

"Yes," Lexa agreed. "Congratulations on finishing the first half of your project."

Clarke laughed. "Not that. I meant finally, we're alone at last. I thought she would never leave," she said, moving to rest her hands on the wall to trap Lexa.

"W-what?" Lexa gulped.

"Now is a perfect time to make out," Clarke whispered, moving closer to Lexa's mouth.

Lexa's heart skipped a beat, not prepared for Clarke to be so forward. Sure, she had wanted this for a long time, but she always figured it was an unrequited love. She'd been so certain that Clarke was straight until this moment.

With a millimetre apart, Clarke opened her eyes to find Lexa's eyes as wide as saucers. She pulled away and laughed.

Lexa laughed nervously, confused and disappointed by how close she'd been to kissing Clarke Griffin, only for it to have been a game of chicken she'd won.

When Clarke stopped laughing, she spoke. "This reminds me of a funny story."

"What about?" Lexa questioned, still on edge.

"About the time I was in the closet," Clarke answered.

This was it. Everything that Lexa had been training for since the ninth grade, when she had first set her eyes upon Clarke Griffin. Unsure that she had heard her right, _because was Clarke Griffin really coming out to her?_ Lexa choked out, "I'm sorry, what?"

"You know, the closet. That one, right there," she said, pointing to the closet beside them.

 _Of course,_ Lexa groaned internally. Clarke was going to be the death of her.

Clarke continued, "I wasn't supposed to be in the art room, but I was skipping bio. Then Ray and O locked me in that closet right there," she nodded to the closet again, " and hid me in there until Indra left again. She was in one of those _moods."_

Lexa nodded, understanding what Clarke meant by Indra's ridiculous mood changes.

Then, Octavia walked in. "Oh, thank God I didn't catch you guys in a compromising position," she sighed in relief. "Knowing Clarke, I wouldn't have been surprised."

Lexa coughed as Clarke smirked. "It would've happened, but I couldn't let Indra catch me a second time."

Lexa coughed a second time, and could not stop the coughing fit that followed.

...

Later, after Lexa had told Anya the story and Anya finally stopped laughing, they'd come to two conclusions. Either Clarke was extremely oblivious of Lexa's feelings, or Clarke knew and was being extremely mean about it.

Neither did anything to stop Lexa's pining.


	2. suck it and see

"Alright, Griffin, spill."

"What?" Clarke asked, feigning innocence.

They had hardly left darkroom #2 before Octavia had asked the question. "You know. I left you and Commander Heart Eyes in the dark-" Clarke looked around to make sure Lexa was nowhere in sight, "-room for at least 15 minutes longer than I should have."

"Yeah, and?" They were nearing English, their next period class.

"And I want to know what happened. Did you get any?" Octavia asked, excited.

"No." Clarke responded, quickly. "And shut up, I don't want Raven to hear this, she'll never let me live-"

Suddenly, Raven walked out of her computer science class. "Guys, I think we should dip outta next peri- don't want Raven to hear what?"

"I left Clarke and Commander Heart Eyes alone in the darkroom for 20 minutes," Octavia said, before Clarke could stop her.

"No shit?" Raven laughed. "You two alone in the _darkroom._ Did you get her pregnant?"

"No, she didn't even kiss her!" Octavia added.

"Shut up," Clarke ground out, teeth clenched.

"Griffin, what's got you so off your game? You not being able to even _kiss_ Lexa makes fifteen year old me look desperate," Raven said.

Clarke wildly looked around for passerby before she snapped, "say her name louder, why don't you?"

"Relax, Clarke. No one cares that you like girls, too," Raven assured her, "and if they did, I'd kick their ass."

Clarke glared at her, nonetheless.

"Alright, sorry, I'll try to be more careful about code names." Raven said, her arms up in surrender.

"Anyway, what happened?" Octavia pressed.

Clarke sighed. They obviously weren't going to let this go. "Okay," she started.

Clarke told the two what had transpired between her and Lexa in those twenty minutes. It wasn't easy, but she went through it all: how wide Lexa's eyes were when she'd tried to kiss her, how she'd tried to come out to Lexa; everything.

"Why'd you laugh the kiss off? That wasn't very Clarke-Griffin-in-the-Darkroom-esque. I should know," Raven said.

"Yeah, Clarke. Laughing it off probably confused her. It maybe even offended her, since she _obviously_ has a huge crush on you, " Octavia added.

Clarke sighed. "What part of her _'eyes were wide open'_ did you guys not understand? She definitely doesn't like me like that."

"Okay, Griffin, but think about this," Octavia said. "Lexa stayed in that humid cramped darkroom with us for forty-five minutes, even though she had no reason to be there."

Clarke's eyes widened. _Octavia is right._ Clarke thought, _Lexa does like me back._

"Bingo, you've finally got it," Raven congratulated her. "But we gotta leave now if we wanna skip English. Ms. Tsing is probably starting her rounds soon."

...

"You're lucky you're cute because you're a cheater," Octavia accused.

Raven smirked. "Nah, I'm just really great with my hands. It only makes sense I'd be kickass at making paper boats."

"Clarke!" Octavia yelled. "Will you tell Raven she's a cheater?"

"Ex _cuse_ me, I-" Clarke tuned out the rest of Raven's sentence. She let herself be consumed once again by thoughts about the darkroom incident.

Clarke now knew that Lexa had a crush on her. But did Lexa know that Clarke returned those feelings? She thought back to her actions.

She had tried to come out to Lexa, but chickened out. _Lexa probably thinks I'm straight._ She didn't know whether to be disappointed, or relieved. She frowned.

Clarke watched as Raven tackled Octavia to the ground to tickle her. They'd been racing paper boats down the ravine, and it only made sense that Raven, an aspiring mechanic, had beaten Octavia four consecutive times.

She switched her thoughts back to Lexa. _Okay, but your cover was kind of teasing. Maybe mentioning being in the closet was flirting?_ She thought. _It definitely hints that I could be into girls._

Clarke thought back to the last comment she made in front of Lexa. _'Couldn't let Indra catch me a second time?'_ She shuddered, embarrassed by how forward she'd been. _That was_ definitely _flirting._

Her eyes widened. Lexa probably knew. Was she ready to date another girl? Would she have to make the first move? If so, how? What if she messed up?

"Thanks for taking my side, by the way," Octavia interrupted her thoughts sarcastically, dropping beside her to get more paper.

"Sorry, I was just thinking," Clarke explained.

Octavia looked at Clarke then, noticing something was wrong. "Relax, Clarke. She likes you too. Just go for it."

Clarke watched as Octavia ran back to Raven to kiss her nose. She could make an educated guess on how Octavia knew exactly what was running through her mind.

...

Lexa stumbled tiredly onto the bus. She was too tired to stand, considering her mind had been racing since that morning in the darkroom. She cursed Anya for stealing her car a second time that day.

 _Stop thinking about it,_ she scolded herself, taking a seat. But it was like telling someone not to think of red elephants. Her thoughts quickly reverted back to Clarke and the darkroom, her new default setting, apparently.

Clarke had almost _kissed_ her. She'd said she'd been in the closet, and that _had_ to be teasing, right? But no, would Clarke be that cruel? Is that the type of pers- _no._ Lexa shook her head, stopping her thoughts. _Contain yourself._

She'd been distracted all day, unable to focus on her classes. It was very unlike her to not be in control of her thoughts. She was usually very disciplined.

So consumed in her thoughts, she didn't notice when Clarke got onto the bus and was therefore very unprepared when Clarke sat next to her.

"Hey," Clarke greeted.

Lexa nodded in response, not trusting her voice.

There was a long pause.

It had to have been 2 stops before Clarke spoke up again. "I'm sorry about this morning in the darkroom."

Lexa hadn't been prepared for _that._ She never expected Clarke to acknowledge the incident.

"I figure I made you uncomfortable," Clarke explained, when she mistook Lexa's look of shock for confusion.

Lexa contemplated playing dumb, as she was unsure of whether saying ' _it's okay,'_ would give her away. She decided it wouldn't. "It's okay."

Clarke smiled in response. They both turned their heads to face the window in front of them, falling back into a silence.

With her current knowledge of Lexa returning her feelings, Clarke thought about how to make her next move. She snuck a glance at Lexa, who was still looking out the window next to her. Her eyes flicked to Lexa's lips.

 _Kiss her,_ her mind urged. _Look at her lips._ Just then, Lexa's tongue darted out to moisturize them. Clarke's mind went blank. _What the fuck are you waiting for? They look so soft and kissa-_ She remembered she was still in the closet.

 _Clarke, you're in public!_ She scolded herself. _You can't kiss her here. People will know you're bi._

She shook her head as she tried to talk herself out of it, only to have Raven's voice played back in her head. _"No one cares that you like girls, too."_

That sealed the deal. She almost moved her arm to cup Lexa's cheek, when she realized that Lexa probably wouldn't want to be outed by being kissed on the bus. Besides, she wanted their first kiss to be a private moment between just the two of them. Her mind scrambled to think of a more discreet way to show Lexa her feelings.

 _Ask her out, duh._ She thought. Right. That should've been her first choice.

She opened her mouth to execute this excellent plan of action, until she remembered she didn't have a plan of action.

 _Gotta make it smooth, Griffin. How would you ask her out in the darkroom?_

Clarke began to panic as the bus drew nearer to the station. She was running out of time. Octavia's voice sounded in her head. _"Relax, Clarke. She likes you too. Just go for it."_

Clarke nodded to herself. _Okay, fuck it._

"Do you wanna- fuck," Clarke cursed, having choked on her saliva from her eagerness.

Lexa's eyebrows shot up. "Do I want to fuck?"

"N-no," Clarke stuttered, trying to stop her coughing fit. "I meant, do you wanna maybe see a movie? With me?"

"Who would be attending?" Lexa asked, not being able to believe that _Clarke Griffin_ may have just asked her out.

Clarke hesitated, before answering. "Um. Just you and me."

"Are you… Are you asking me out?" She was still unsure.

"Are you saying yes?" Clarke answered. She took a shot in her head to celebrate how quickly she'd thought up that response.

Lexa smiled. "Well… I guess I wouldn't be opposed to being the second time you were caught by Indra."


End file.
